AN: Long delay, I know,
but it was a dry period for me and inspiration (Writer's Block/Time
constraints) Hopefully you enjoy this installment of To End All
Wars, sorry for the wait, again, whoever is still with me.

Chapter 15: Convergence

Anger was an interesting
emotion. The layers, the intensity of anger could be called many
different things; ranging from annoyance or disgust to blinding rage. Revan was about at blinding rage as he dodged a rotting Flood Combat
form, severing its arm and driving his elbow backwards into the
creature's center of mass. A popping sound answered the Dark Lord's
efforts and he ignored the thump made by the falling combat form's
corpse, instead drawing his saber in a sideways arc that rendered the
carrier form Flood into nothing but seared flesh. The pod exploded,
coating the Sith Lord's once pristine armor and robes in a
greenish-yellow gore that the former Jedi ignored as he ran at a
grueling pace, his body twisting to the side to avoid a combat form
that had once been a Covenant Elite as it pounced out at him. There
was no time to stop, no time to react beyond the flick of a wrist and
he didn't even bother making sure the Flood that he struck died, he
just kept running. Revan had quickly discovered there was no end to
how many of the Flood would swarm him. They were very appropriately
named, a part of Revan's mind mused as he gathered the Force in the
palm of his free hand, scattering the carrier forms before him into
exploding pods of gore. The anger he felt at the situation was
almost blinding, and Revan focused the rage into a weapon, turning it
against the horrifying creatures that threw themselves at him in
ravenous desperation. All of the anger he'd harbored since bringing
his ship to the Milky Way galaxy rose to the surface and lightning
crackled around the Dark Lord as he sprinted through the massive
corridors of Halo's superstructure. There was no time to focus the
lightning into a bolt and it simply fried any Flood that neared him
as he moved past, fueled by a power the Milky Way hadn't seen for
nearly twenty thousand years; when the Rakatans and their Infinite
Empire finally withdrew from their war with the Forerunners to save
themselves.

Dozens of kilometers from
Revan's position, Spartan-117 sprayed a burst of fire from his MA-5B,
his hands grasping the weapon tightly as he fought down his own
reaction to the Flood. Fear was there, but separated from his
actions and the Spartan turned, smashing a flying carrier form with
his fist as it tried to find purchase on his armor. The pod exploded
into a cloud of gore that splattered on the Spartan's MJOLNIR armor
and he moved on, wiping his faceplate as he finished off the clip in
his weapon. The assault rifle clicked and John swallowed
reflexively, his hand moving and replacing the empty magazine with a
fresh one as he slammed the bolt home and turned back around,
sprinting as quickly as he could. Flood combat and carrier forms
scurried around him, coming from every possible hole and passageway
he could see. Having no other option, the Spartan II quickly climbed
onto what he could only assume was a structural support column and he
carefully took the few extra seconds his elevation provided him to
pick his targets as they slammed into the base of the column, trying
to climb over one another and feast on the Spartan. The Library was
close and John could see more and more Sentinels fighting with the
Flood. Still, the Sentinels were flying around and he was on the
ground. A chaingun would've been nice about then. Or maybe a HAVOC
Tactical Nuke.

Bastila Shan did the only
sensible thing she could when someone pointed a loaded weapon in her
face when she was disarmed. Drawing on the Force subtly, Bastila
concentrated on the weapon in Mira's hand and disengaged the power
pack. Like any well-trained soldier, Mira immediately realized her
weapon was inactive and made a move with the lightsaber she'd taken
from Bastila, only to find herself out of the Warthog and on her back
on the walkway as the Jedi ignited her borrowed weapon and moved
towards Atton and McKay. Mira sat up groaning, shaking her head side
to side and almost vomiting where she sat. Her vision blurred
slightly by the sheer force she'd struck the ground, Mira stood
shakily and stumbled to the side of the captured Warthog as she
grabbed her blaster rifle from where it rested between the driver and
passenger seat. Her comm crackled but she was too concussed to hear
anything as she turned and raised her weapon to Bastila Shan's
retreating form, blinking against the blurred image as she tried to
make a clean shot. Bastila felt the warning in the Force and quickly
found herself dodging Atton Rand's shots as he turned from McKay,
backhanding the ODST to stun her as he turned to the bigger threat. A Jedi could be on him before he even shot his weapon and he ignored
McKay for the time being, carefully picking his shots while he
spotted Mira moving from the side of her Warthog. Ducking slightly
to avoid one of his deflected shots, Atton stopped suddenly, his eyes
widening behind his mask as he turned around and started the engine
of the Warthog. Bastila had managed to get to the back of the
vehicle when the human craft took off, its wheels burning as Atton
left with more speed than was likely wise. Coughing at the smell of
burned rubber, Bastila turned back around, cursing as she dodged
Mira's poorly aimed shot and charged the Sith, stopping short when
she saw Aven, Doctor Halfan and one of the red-armored Sith
approaching her position in their own stolen Warthog. It wasn't the
presence of the Dark Jedi that stopped Bastila, but the shock at what
was following them.

"Mira, stand
down!"Aven's voice yelled, relaying the command via the
comms to Atton as well as she sped past. Bastila rushed to the
Warthog she'd just liberated herself from, glancing at a still-dazed
Mira as the former Mandalorian slave struggled to climb into the side
of the vehicle. Helping Mira on board, Bastila forgot their previous
battle in favor or another potential ally. The Warthog took off in
much the same manner as Atton's had and Bastila ignored the shaking
in her hands as she guided the craft along the walkways, nearly
overtaking Aven's vehicle as Flood spewed from the side-passageways
behind them, their forms fast, though not as fast as the Warthogs. Executions and accusations could wait, there were bigger threats to
them, Sith or Jedi alike.

"Status?"Darth
Malak asked as he paced the bridge of the Interceptor. Being able to command the ship in a space battle was not really his
strong point. Despite having experience and a good head on his
shoulders, Malak preferred the hands-on approach to a situation and
would much rather have been manning one of the stations on the ship
than simply passing along orders. Restless, Malak ignored the
lingering doubts he felt in his mind and concentrated on the now. There was a battle to win and a Dark Lord of the Sith to recover. Everything else was secondary. That was, until the intruder alarm
broke out on his ship. Malak's eyes narrowed as he turned to the
ship's captain, ordering him to continue with the battle while he
moved to personally take care of the intruder. Malak knew it wasn't
a Covenant soldier and he silently chastised himself for not
following Revan's earlier commands.

Spartan-058 Linda moved
past the barrier of her cell, raising a brow at the power loss. Apparently there had been an overload in one of the ship's systems
and the forcefield had shut down for a moment. A span of 3.4 seconds
if she were counting and she took advantage, stepping past the
barrier before it reactivated and immediately moving down the
hallways with enhanced speed that a normal human would find
impossible to match. Stealthily, the Spartan moved to the
side-corridor adjacent to her cell and spotted two Sith soldiers
wearing silver armor. The Sith hadn't noticed her, though they were
talking about the power fluctuation. Moving with stealth a panther
would envy, Linda was only two meters away from the closest Sith when
the ship shuddered violently from a Covenant attack and the guards
stumbled, turning to grab for the walls to support themselves before
they found themselves face to face with their prisoner. The Spartan
reacted instantly, driving her hand into the closest Sith's chest and
then turning and snapping the neck of the second. The first Sith was
leaning against the wall and coughing violently as red blood seeped
from the cracks in his armor. Linda struck forward, breaking the
soldier's neck before the body of his comrade had even hit the
ground. Pausing a moment as she considered the intelligence of her
actions, Linda quickly grabbed both of the guard's bodies and moved
them out of the line of sight of the doorway as she donned the second
Sith's undamaged armor. The armor was small on her, though not small
enough to raise alarms at a passing glance. Lifting one of the
fallen Sith's weapons, Linda moved into the adjacent corridor and
cursed as a Dark Jedi approached her, eyeing her with a confused
expression as she failed to salute.

"Show the proper
respect, scum. You're lucky we're in the middle of a battle or I'd
kill you where you- wait a moment. You're not-"The Dark
Jedi was on his back before he had time to react, his chest caved in
from the Spartan's kick and Linda lowered her stance, staring at the
corpse in surprise. She'd hit Malak just as hard and he'd still been
alive. The Sith's hands moved and Linda did the only smart thing and
shot the Dark Jedi in his face. A security camera recorded the
incident and activated the ship's internal alarms, causing Linda's
studying of the weapon the Sith's hand had fallen on to end with her
merely taking the weapon and sprinting away instead of learning of
its practical uses. The Spartan was able to run past two patrols and
a squad of red-armored elite Sith before she came to an abrupt stop
as the lift at the end of the corridor she was in opened to reveal
Darth Malak.

"You should have
stayed in your cell."Malak stated, his hand already holding
his own lightsaber. Linda considered her options, knowing the man's
strength and resilience though not knowing the true extent of the
Force's powers. Deciding to take a chance, Linda fired off a burst
of several shots from her blaster, noting the surprise on Malak's
face as the Force delayed the warning, forcing the Sith Lord to dodge
the attacks instead of deflect them. Linda soon learned not to
underestimate a Force-user when she found her weapon smoking in her
hands and Malak's forearm captured in her grasp. The man had crossed
the distance between them in a blur, even to her Spartan senses and
she was hard-pressed to grab his weapon arm before he brought his
weapon down on her face."All the bones in your arm should
be shattered... how-"Malak swept his leg behind Linda's, the
Spartan tripping, though she maintained her hold on Malak's weapon
arm and dragged him down with her to the floor. Malak's expression
was cold, though a flicker of uncertainty crossed his eyes as he
struggled with the Spartan, their arms locked in a life and death
struggle.

"Milord!"Malak
raised his head at the call, the distraction enough for Linda to gain
the leverage she needed to throw him to the side. Pain seared her as
Malak's saber ran across her shoulder and she rolled as a blaster
bolt struck where she was laying a moment before. Obviously the Sith
had stopped using stun bolts on her. The pain in her shoulder was
distracting, agonizing and the Spartan wondered to the reason as a
blaster bolt struck her in her chest. Falling back, Linda grunted as
she tried to move once more, the pain from the blaster bolt
unpleasant, though not nearly as bad as the wound she'd received from
the lightsaber. The Spartan had no idea that a Jedi's connection to
the Force and to their weapon enhanced its effectiveness and she lay
still a moment, taking another shot from the Sith to the stomach as
he approached her warily, looking between Malak and the Spartan. Linda felt her consciousness fading as she nearly blacked out from
the pain of her wounds, her green eyes filled with pain a moment
before she turned them to the Sith Lord towering over her, lowering
her eyes to the crimson blade of Malak's saber as it moved to her
throat."You've killed three of my men, I won't have
you-"Malak stopped speaking, his eyes suddenly alarmed as he
sensed Revan. The battle had been distracting him but he'd dwelled
too long on thoughts of Revan and his last order to kill
Linda and he was assailed with an image of
the Flood. Malak's saber wavered before he flicked the switch and
deactivated the weapon, staring down at Linda, though not really
looking at the Spartan. Unable to move from her injuries, Linda
merely stared back at Malak, awaiting the inevitable. Assuming he
was sparing her so he would torture her, Linda was surprised when the
apprentice of the Dark Lord raised a hand to his head before
activating his communicator and issuing an order.

"Get those Covenant
ships out of our way immediately. Lord Revan needs our help. That
is the priority. I will take care of this nuisance myself."Malak
added the last part to the solider beside him and the Sith soldier
that had shot Linda looked to Malak, snapping off a salute as he
turned and sprinted down the hallway. Malak looked back down at
Linda blankly, his eyes filling with a cold fury as he saw the armor
she wore, armor taken from one of his soldiers.

"You will drift in
space between life and death, long after the Covenant turns your
people to atomized ash, and burns your worlds to glass, you will
remain a phantom in space, left to the fate the Sith would have kept
you from, had your people not chosen to make enemies of us."Linda
registered the threat and met Malak's stare dead-on, not backing
down. The Spartan blacked out at that point from the pain of her
wounds, an all too human weakness that even the Spartan II's were not
immune to. Linda felt a flickering of consciousness as the Sith
armor was removed from her, a familiar weight settling against her
body as the Sith began entombing her within her MJOLNIR armor and
sealing her in a standard UNSC cryo-pod. Drifting into a gray state
of oblivion, Linda had enough time to contemplate the look of
hesitation in Malak's eyes as he condemned her to her fate before she
drifted into a blank REM sleep, uncomprehending to the universe
outside of her unconscious mind. The pod containing Spartan 058 was
released into the blackness of space, the Sith fleet dumping the
other recovered UNSC pods to join the sleeping Spartan's as they made
their way for Halo, Ion cannon-fire streaking across the blackness of
space and impacting the shielded Covenant craft. While not as
advanced as the Rakatan/Sith hybrid Capitol ships like the Revenge
and Interceptor,
the modified Interdictor cruisers were able to go toe to toe with the
Covenant, not overwhelming the aliens as their reinforcements slowly
tricked into the system, but giving them the access they needed to
Halo to recover their leader.

HK-47 crouched, his
blaster rifle thrown over his shoulder and resting on its strap while
he held two Covenant plasma rifles in each mechanical hand. A
sadistic gleam of pleasure crossed the Hunter-Killer droid's crimson
photoreceptors as they focused on a Covenant Grunt, the tiny alien
slumbering at the side of the corridor HK just happened to need to
pass through to reach the bridge of the Covenant cruiser. Recalling
the design specifications he'd reviewed of the Covenant ship, HK made
a mental note within his computer core to reference the design to his
Master. While not as intimidating as a Sith bridge with its massive
tower that overlooked the rest of the ship, the Covenant's design for
their warship's bridges was logical. Imbedded deep in the heart of
the ship, the bridge was well protected from attacks from without and
within. Something the assassin droid had enjoyed thoroughly as it
required maximum contact with the enemy. Activating his stealth
protocols, HK crept silently towards the slumbering Grunt,
magnetizing the plasma rifles to the sides of his legs to wield a
captured plasma sword. Positioning the handle over the Grunt, the
droid's eyes seemed to smirk as the plasma blade hissed to life,
melting through the flesh and bone of the Grunt and frying its brain
before it could even give off a startled cry of pain."Tactical
Observation: The small meatbags appear to lack the resilience of the
larger meatbags. Observation: Continued stealth will ensure a
maximum of kills with little risk to my genius programming. Counterpoint: Lack of stealth will lead to more numerous
confrontations as the hostiles will no doubt be able to track my
position. Analysis: Continued stealth will be required to ensure
this unit's survival. Anticipation: Master always said danger is
the spice of life."Replacing his plasma sword with two
plasma rifles, HK-47 turned his head left to right, observing a shift
in the light spectrum around him. Adjusting his sensors, HK
pinpointed a Covenant Elite stealthily approaching him and raised his
weapons, firing on the Shangheili. The Elite was scalded by the
superheated plasma, though a shield bubble appeared around him, the
personal shields of the Covenant more reliable and protective than
the deflector-based shielding of the Sith. HK's systems alerted him
to a damaged system as his deflector failed from a charged plasma
shot from the Elite's plasma pistol and he fired more shots than were
needed to end the threat of the gold-armored Covenant warrior, his
photoreceptors turning downward to observe the damage a charged
plasma bolt had done to his armor unshielded. A glowing orange hole
was surrounded in patches of black, where the heat from dozens of
plasma rounds had stuck him in his time on the Covenant ship and
droid noted how the Covenant's shields operated on a separate
principle, blocking all energy, kinetic or otherwise while the Sith's
blocked only the energy, still allowing physical matter to penetrate
their shielding.

"Observation: UNSC
forces with their primitive projectile weaponry should be approached
with extreme caution. Use of projectiles against standard issued
Sith shielding systems without proper bodyarmor may result in
termination. Processing: Additional details needed before accurate
safeguards can be made to confront UNSC weaponry. Conclusion: Covenant shielding systems will offer sufficient protection from all
forms of attack, though power requirements will result in possible
systems failure. Threat Assessment: Estimate twenty-three percent
possibility of system overload through sustained use of Covenant
personal shielding. Observation: Continued functioning will require
eighty-four percent power capacity. Conclusion: Use of Covenant
shielding only to be used in extreme circumstances or when confronted
by projectile weaponry."HK took the shield generator from
the Covenant Elite's corpse, tying it in with his power core and
bypassing the safeties before he relayed it to a mental switch that
could be activated within his neural processor. Switching between
the Covenant and Sith shielding systems, HK settled on the Sith
version of energy deflection, well aware of the threats of close-form
melee combat. It was one of the reasons a Sith Interdictor could
survive a direct hit from a nuclear weapon, but be severely damaged
or destroyed by an asteroid or a collision. The shielding was
designed to work with armored plating to deflect incoming energy, not
physical matter. It was also the reason their landing bay shields
allowed them to sustain solid atmospheres within the ship while able
to send ships through the energy field. The physical matter met
resistance, due to the flow of energy, but failed to pass through
without an outside source of power. It was one of the baseline
operational principles from which all their shielding equipment
worked. Apparently the Covenant had taken a different approach and
HK was certain if the power consumption issues would be addressed
that his Master would be most pleased with his findings.

Darth Revan sat with his
back against an ancient Forerunner doorway, his once-pristine red
armor and black robes covered in sweat, blood and grime from hours of
mortal battle done with only the Force and his lightsaber. Bruised
and broken ribs made his ragged breathing painful and the Dark Lord
of the Sith shifted slightly to ease his pain, the painful burn of a
plasma wound from a gun-wielding Flood combat form protesting. Revan
was in a relatively isolated room next to a computer terminal with
runes and numbers in such foreign characters that he could not even
make a comparison with any languages he knew. The furthest thing
from his mind at the time, the language of the Forerunners flickered
across the holodisplay, the solid lights forming into a complex
computer code that rivaled the Sith's most advanced programs. From
within the program, UNSC AI Serial Number CTN 0452-9 observed the
Sith's leader with a frown on her holographic face. 343 Guilty Spark
was leading John into a trap and she had no means of reaching him
before he got to the control room and even then the countermeasures
in the Forerunner database we so staggering that even her advanced
programming was having difficulty bypassing the locks needed to let
the Chief know what he was about to do before it was too late. The
system had locked her out as soon as the Index was recovered from the
Library and Cortana had been slowly laying in a set of command
functions to pass long control of the index to her program,
significantly reducing her seven year lifespan as a Smart-AI in the
process, but it was a small price to pay for saving billions from the
Halos firing. Pressing against the console, Cortana felt frustration
enter her thoughts as she tried to gain the Sith Lord's attention by
flashing random sequences across the Forerunner computer panel beside
him.

"Come on, look up! Hit the damned console!"Revan's
masked features jerked slightly as he attempted to fight off
exhaustion and he grunted in pain as he tried to stand, his muscles
aching as he staggered to his feet. Pain burned through him, making
his vision white for a moment before it cleared, spots of red and
black playing over his vision before they cleared to a dimly lit room
with a computer panel that looked to be malfunctioning. Stepping to
the console, Revan spared a paranoid glance over his shoulder to the
doorway, wondering if the Flood he'd managed to escape from through a
set of side corridors and access shafts that were likely airways
would buy him the time he needed to heal, or in the very least rest. Laying a hand against the console to take some weight off his feet,
Revan blinked as a flicker of blue and green light coalesced into a
face on the panel. Furrowing his brow and blinking against pained
exhaustion and likely a small amount of delirium, Revan saw again the
faint features of a woman's face, soft and feminine though garbled
horribly through the alien text. Revan stared at the image for a
moment before he recalled his stay at the UNSC's Alpha base and the
colorful AI the UNSC relied on so heavily to monitor the Covenant.

"Cortana?"Revan
stated to the empty room, feeling foolish suddenly at giving his
delusions form. The console beeped at him and Revan blinked,
clearing his throat and stiffening as he crossed his arms out of
habit, the pain making him drop them quickly to his sides.

"Well, if I am not
insane and you're... somehow in a Forerunner computer panel... Why
are you speaking to me? Your people made it fairly clear we wouldn't
work together."A sequence of buttons flashed and Revan had
the common sense to know they were a code of some kind. Deciding to
type in the code, Revan jerked back in surprise as a life-sized
representation of a humanoid woman appeared before him, green, blue
and red glyphs crossing over her translucent body in clear annoyance
as her eyes flared a smoldering red."Its about damned time
someone noticed me! I've been stuck inside this data processor for
hours trying to let one of you barbarians know what was going on. Spark isn't sending you to somewhere to help control the Flood, he's
setting you and the Chief up. Halo doesn't just kill the Flood, it
kills everything with enough genetic matter to feed the parasite. Its why the Flood is on the ring to begin with, it was trying to stop
the Forerunners and found the shielded rooms deep within where they
were going to wait out the effects. This is only one of many rings
and if it fires, the others will to and it will wipe out all sentient
life within this galaxy. He is sending you to the control room in
case the Chief doesn't follow through with activating the rings, he
needs someone to physically activate the sequence and if he does,
we're all dead."Revan leaned back against the wall adjacent
to the console, observing the temperamental AI with a blank
expression through his faceless mask. A sound, not mistaken by
Cortana as teeth grinding together reached her before Revan let out
an explosive sigh, his body twitching in pain at the action as he
gave a mirthless laugh, filled with bitterness, anger and pain.

"I am going to tear
that conniving automaton into pieces and melt down his parts,
reassemble them and do it again. I will rip apart the wires to his
subprocessors and program them only to feel pain, I will-"Revan
swayed slightly, overcome by nausea and dizziness from his injuries
combined with exhaustion.

"I think I will lay
down for a bit..."Revan slowly slid down the wall, absently
staring up at the glowering form of Cortana as she crossed her
holographic arms and glared at him. Feeling a bit of pity for the
man, despite what she knew and had been informed of, Cortana waited,
staring at the man before he stirred from his place on the floor to
struggle to his feet, grunting in pain as he struggled to keep from
crying out in pain. Mandalorians didn't cry out in pain. Breathing
deeply despite the white-hot pain it meant for him, Revan turned to
the UNSC AI, giving a nod as his response as he moved from the room,
back into the passageway that would lead him to the control room as
well as the awaiting Flood. Cortana, knowing the man was unaugmented
and suffering from injuries and exhaustion that would even give a
Spartan trouble arched a holographic brow in silent respect for the
man, her form flickering as it vanished, returning to the subsystems
she was locked within in Halo's computer database. John and Revan
would fight their war against the Flood and 343 out there and she
would fight it within the ancient programs themselves. She could
only hope one of them was successful.

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